In 1949, an Erector Set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by Drs. William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.

In 1949, an Erector Set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by Drs. William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.

I fondly remember Erector Sets, except for the time that my brother jabbed me in the head with a piece of one. Yes, youngsters, once upon a time sharp strips of metal were sold as toys.

In 1949, an Erector Set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by Drs. William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.

I fondly remember Erector Sets, except for the time that my brother jabbed me in the head with a piece of one. Yes, youngsters, once upon a time sharp strips of metal were sold as toys.

Reminds me of the old SNL sketch where Dan Aykroyd is marketing a bag of broken glass as a toy...

Edit: That was a free association, by the way, not a commentary on erector sets, which were the bee's knees.

In 1949, an Erector Set was used to build the precursor to the modern artificial heart by Drs. William Sewell and William Glenn of the Yale School of Medicine. The external pump successfully bypassed the heart of a dog for more than an hour.

I fondly remember Erector Sets, except for the time that my brother jabbed me in the head with a piece of one. Yes, youngsters, once upon a time sharp strips of metal were sold as toys.

Reminds me of the old SNL sketch where Dan Aykroyd is marketing a bag of broken glass as a toy...

"Bag o Glass"

I want to make a PC based on that character, Irwin Mainway.

Also, a certain hobby uses chemicals that can be repackaged as explosives. Years ago it was shipped by mail to anyone who ordered it.

Cow sharks are considered to be the most primitive of all living sharks. Most modern sharks only have 5 gill slits, while cow sharks may have as many as seven. Also, their digestive and excretory systems are extremely unspecialized, unlike other species of sharks.

Before his 12 years in the NFL, playing for Dallas (where he became the so far only Austrian to win the Super Bowl), San Diego, Houston, and New Orleans, Toni Fritsch had a successful career as a soccer player, thrice winning the Austrian league with Rapid Wien, and twice winning the Austrian Cup, as well as representing his country nine times between 1965 and 1968 and scoring two goals for them (both against England, at Wembley Stadium, giving him the nickname "Wembley Toni") .

-When Napoleon invaded the Iberian Peninsula, the Portuguese royal family fled to Brasil, swicthed capitals, and effectively turned the colony into the metropoli and viceversa.

-During the XIX century, egyptian tombs were often raided in search of mummies, that were later shipped to England or the US and used in grotesque parties that consisted in slowly peeling them off to see what was inside. Also, powdered mummy fingers were sold as a remedy almost into the XX century in several points of London and Paris.

-The Catholic Church manages about 30% of the world's healthcare services.

-Napoleon had plans to invade Great Britain by using a fleet of hot-air balloons filled with troops.

-The first fully functional steam-powered ship was built in the 1600's in Barcelona, Spain, but could not be replicated since the local authorities thought it pointless to invest in such a contraption.

-The first fully functional steam-powered ship was built in the 1600's in Barcelona, Spain, but could not be replicated since the local authorities thought it pointless to invest in such a contraption.

You mean this, from more than a thousand years earlier? (Sorry, I had to.)

-The first fully functional steam-powered ship was built in the 1600's in Barcelona, Spain, but could not be replicated since the local authorities thought it pointless to invest in such a contraption.

You mean this, from more than a thousand years earlier? (Sorry, I had to.)

Notice that I specified "first functional steam-powered ship". While steam engines are indeed older, the first known seafaring vessel that was propelled by steampower -and was documented to work- was built in XVII century Barcelona.

-There are 12 breweries underwater in the surroundings of the chilean city of Valdivia, left there after the 9.5 Great Earthquake that hit the region in 1960 -the strongest ever recorded- sank almost half the city under the waves. All of them had been built during the XIXth Century by german immigrants, and from time to time, sealed barrels and bottles with their content unspilled are rescued.

-That same eartquake accounted for nearly 25% of all the seismic energy released worlwide during the entire XXth Century.

-Several members of the Von Frankenstein family are buried in the Von Frankenstein Mausoleum within the General Cemetery of Santiago, Chile. So far, no flesh golems have been seen in the area.

-A subterranean river running the whole length of the Amazonas river was discovered some years ago, with a flow several times greater than that of the surface course itself.

-Damascus, in modern Syria, is the oldest known continously inhabited urban area in the world, with reccords showing that people have lived there without interruption since at least 7,000 BC.

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say "the same side is always facing the earth during a particular lunar phase"? Because IIRC the "dark side of the moon" does face the Earth... but only during the New Moon phase, so we can't see it anyway.

Even more interesting. Venus always "shows" the same portion of her surface at closest approach.

Wouldn't it be more accurate to say "the same side is always facing the earth during a particular lunar phase"? Because IIRC the "dark side of the moon" does face the Earth... but only during the New Moon phase, so we can't see it anyway.

Even more interesting. Venus always "shows" the same portion of her surface at closest approach.